DAILY030822
Congress Prepares Gold-Related Sanctions vs. Russia
Sens. Cornyn (R-TX), Hassan (D-NH), and bipartisan colleagues have added to the Congressional proposals to sanction Russia with S. 3771, legislation to impose secondary sanctions related to American entities that knowingly engage in gold sales or transport involving the Russian central bank.
Mandatory-Arb Bill Gets Low-Priority, Partisan Reception
As we anticipated, today’s Senate Banking hearing on mandatory arbitration in financial products was partisan and provided little in the way of an actionable agenda. The hearing was also poorly attended due to higher-priority concerns, with Chairman Brown (D-OH) and Democrats supporting the legislation they recently introduced to ban mandatory arbitration and class-action waivers.
Energy Financing Now Under Sanctions Gun
As anticipated, President Biden’s executive order today barring oil and related energy imports also extends the sanctions regime to financing, approving, guaranteeing or facilitating sanctioned imports and any energy-related investments.
FedFin Advisory: Commodity Risk Would Renew Political Challenge
A key question we hear from large-bank investors is the extent to which the Ukraine crisis may lead to significant commodity-related losses at the largest U.S. banks due not only to their own exposures, but also to Archegos-like risk positions in these often opaque markets.